Praise and Worship Time (15 minutes)

1. Opening Prayer

2. Sing Songs of choice

Review Books of the Bible and Key Passages:

Share the following situations with the children guiding them to identify the key passages:

Situation 1: You are in science class and your teacher begins discussing the beginning of the world. He/she tells you there was a ‘big bang’ and that is how life started. Your friend asks you if this is true. How do you respond? Where do you show your friend how life on earth began? (The Creation Story – Genesis 1)

Situation 2: You hear in Sunday School about the many people who had faith in God. You are having trouble with faith because you cannot see God and He seems not be talking to you in a way you can understand. Where in the bible would you go to learn about faith and can find a list of people who demonstrated such faith? (Hall of Faith – Hebrews 11)

Situation 3: We are all familiar with the WWJD phrase: What would Jesus Do? You also want to know WDJS: What did Jesus say? You hear Jesus preached to a crowd while He was alive on earth many times. Where would you find the sermon He gave while on a mountainside? (Sermon on the Mount – Matthew 5-7)

Find the following books of the Bible:

o Romans

o Hosea

o Revelation

o Ruth

o Philippians

o Numbers

Tell the Bible Story (15 minutes)

1. Prepare to Teach

Review last week’s Bible story notes

Read Numbers 27:12-23

Read all of this week’s Bible story notes

2. Teach

The following passages/verses will be read by the children:

o Numbers 27:12-14

o Numbers 27:15-17

o Numbers 27:18-21

o Numbers 27:22-23

The following passages will be read by the leader:

o Deuteronomy 34:1-4

o Deuteronomy 34:5-8

o Deuteronomy 34:9-12

Review where we left off last time:

o The people had already been in the desert for 39 years.

o They were again complaining about the lack of water.

o Frustrated Moses went to God and asked about water.

o God told Moses to speak to the rock and water would flow.

o In his anger and frustration, Moses hit the rock (instead of speaking to it) and the water flowed.

o God was unhappy with Moses because Moses misrepresented God.

o Moses did not honor God in that situation.

o God told Moses he and Aaron would not enter the promised land.

What has happened since that incident?

o The people journeyed towards Moab.

o The Moabites had heard all God was doing for the Israelites and were afraid.

o Balak, King of Moab, summoned Balaam and asked Balaam to curse the Israelites.

o Balaam tried to curse the Israelites but God did not permit him to curse the Israelites.

o Instead, Balaam blessed the Israelites.

o The people were nearing the end of their time in the desert so Moses ordered another census to be taken.

o This brings us to Numbers 27.

Read Numbers 27:12-14

o Miriam and Aaron had already died and God told Moses his time had come.

o God reminded Moses why he is not leading the people into the Promised Land.

o Moses accepted he would not enter the Promised Land and asked God to appoint a leader to follow him.

o He did not want the people to be like sheep without a shepherd. (compare to Matthew 9:36)

Read Numbers 27:18-21

o God chose Joshua.

o Joshua had been in preparation for this responsibility for some time prior to his calling.

o Joshua had been Moses’ assistant for years.

o Joshua was one of the twelve who went on the exploration of Canaan.

o Joshua was also one of the two who thought the Israelites should take the land just as God had told them to thirty-eight years prior.

o God had prepared Joshua for this task and it was time for Joshua to step up and assume the role God had prepared him for.

Read Numbers 27:22-23

o Moses did just as God told him to.

o Joshua was taken before Eleazar and the whole assembly and was commissioned as the next leader.

Ask the children to turn to Deuteronomy 34 (the last chapter in Deuteronomy)

o Explain to the children in the book of Deuteronomy Moses recounted all they had experienced while in the desert.

o When he is done recounting, God called him back up into the mountain.

Read Deut 34:1-7

o God showed Moses the land His people would inherit.

o God reminded Moses of the promise He made to give them this land.

o Then, Moses died on the mountain.

o Moses was 120 years old, but note what Scriptures says: His eyes were not weak and his strength was not gone.

o The Israelites grieved Moses’ death for 30 days.

Ask the children: Why does God tell us that Moses’ eyes were not weak and that his strength was not gone?

o Moses did not die simply because he was old.

o Moses’ task was done so God took him to be with Him.

Read Deut 34:9-12

o God has wonderful things to say about Moses

o What might God say about you?

What do we learn from this?

o God prepared Joshua for the job. God has prepared you and will continue to prepare you for the job/task He has for you.

o When things are rough (like living in the desert for 40 years) know that God knows all about it and that He will use all you experience to prepare you for what He wants you to do.

o God does not waste experiences on us…He will use them.

o Joshua is different than Moses and his leadership will be different than Moses’.

o This is okay for we are all different people.

o This does not mean Joshua was better or worse of a leader than Moses, just different.

Review the commandment: You shall not steal.

We’ve been taught not to steal from a very early age.

Ask: What might we be saying about God and about our faith in God when we steal? (Allow for answers)

o When we steal, it is as if are telling God that what He has for us is not enough.

o We are telling Him that we need more.

o We need to trust that God will give us what we need when we need it and we need to guard against trying to take things for ourselves.

What does Jesus say about the commandment?

o Jesus tells us in Matthew 6:25-26 that He does not want us to worry about things such as what we will eat or drink or what we will wear.

o Jesus reminded us how God takes care of the birds and that we are more valuable to Him than the birds.

o We should trust God and all He provides for us because God knows exactly what we need.

3. Pray

Thank God for His perfect provision.

Thank God for preparing us to do the tasks He asks us to do.

Ask God to help us be content with His provision so that we might not be tempted to steal from others.

4. Explain this week’s Family Activity Sheet

God tells us not to steal. Instead of taking what is not ours, this week we are going to give from what is ours to those who may not have all they need.

For the next two weeks, we will be collecting food items to give to our neighborhood food pantry. Check with your local food pantry for a list of more commonly used/needed items.

Weekly Challenge (20 minutes)

In this week’s challenge, we will play a game that involves ‘stealing.’

1. Before the Challenge

Gather the necessary supplies:

Supplies

1 bandana per student

Cones to mark a playing area

2. The Challenge

Have the children put a bandana in their side pocket leaving enough of it out so that it can be easily grabbed by another (at least 6 inches). At the blow of the whistle, the children will attempt to pull out one another’s bandanas. If a child’s bandana is pulled out, the child will sit at the spot where his/her bandana was pulled out. While sitting, the child(ren) can still pull bandanas of those still in the game.

If time allows, play the game several time.

3. Apply the challenge

We are told not to steal by God. When we steal, we take for ourselves something that God has not given us and in doing so, tell God that what He’s given us is not enough. What happened when we ‘stole’ the bandana from one of players? (the player was taken out of the game and had to sit) There are consequences to our stealing both for us and for those we steal from.

Most importantly, however, when we obey His command to not steal, we honor Him. We should always strive to honor God in all we say and do.

3. Explain the Key Passage

There will be times in our lives when things are difficult and we need some assurance that God will always be with us. David had difficult times in his life and it was during one of those difficult times that he wrote what we now call Psalm 23. He wrote that God was his Shepherd and that God would always care for Him. When we have difficulties, we can turn to Psalm 23 and read David’s words for comfort.